Edson Prestes is a professor at the Institute of Informatics of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He is also the leader of the Phi Robotics Research Group and CNPq research fellow. Prestes is a senior member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and IEEE Standards Association.
Over the past several years, he has been working on different initiatives related to standardization, artificial intelligence, robotics, and ethics. He is a member of the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group for the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence; a member of the United Nations Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation; South America ambassador at IEEE TechEthics; chair of the IEEE RAS/SA 7007 - Ontological Standard for Ethically Driven Robotics and Automation Systems Working Group; vice-chair of the IEEE RAS/SA Ontologies for Robotics and Automation Working Group; a member of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems; an advisor at The Future Society; a member of UNESCO IFAP Information Accessibility Working Group; a member of the MIT/IEEE Global Council on Extended Intelligence; and past associate vice president on the IEEE RAS Industrial Activities Board.
Prestes holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.